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Lord Of The Flyway!

I’m pretty sure you can prove mathematically that LBI is the greatest place on Earth (don’t worry about the numbers). On our Island lives Tufters, the most handsome Piping Plover on the planet (evidence not required). And Tufters sure is lucky that the guy who assures his safety and comfort living among us rowdies, secretly favors our very own Barnegat Light State Park as the finest beach nesting spot in NJ (with the best people too, don’t tell anyone.)

But Tufters has far more to be thankful for than just having a good landlord. He is truly fortunate because our own Beach Nesting Bird Director Todd Pover has become an important global force in solving the Piping Plover Problem. This was solidified a few seasons back when Todd became the well-deserved recipient of some generous funds to study Piping Plover in the Bahamas from the Disney Corporation (who, as I hear it, got pitched by their insane team at Pixar with the crazy idea to turn some of those Frozen profits into itty-bitty-baby PIPLs)

I was surprised when I first learned we only discovered that Piping Plovers spend the winter in the Bahamas a few years back. Imagine if we still didn’t know where all the old people disappeared to each Winter (Florida.) It’s easy to relax on the couch believing we already know everything, except the hard stuff like curing Cancer or figuring out why we exist. But nope. There are all kinds of rudimentary facts and low hanging fruit to be discovered out there.

Having Todd Pover watching over our wildlife in the Summer, then heading down to the Bahamas to spend the winter learning about their lives down there does more than just make Todd a really lucky guy. It makes us very fortunate, as our own home-state expert brings home with him a big picture perspective about where our little Island fits into this great big world.

And this month, Todd Pover had the chance to extend his Piping Plover Flyway perspective in the opposite direction, when he was invited to Canada to speak with other experts and locals after he reported a lucky sighting of banded PIPL “E4” in the Bahamas. As it turns out, E4 is a celebrity Canadian PIPL who lives at the luxurious White Point Beach Resort in Nova Scotia, with a local community who is absolutely nuts about him, very much as we are about our own Tufters & Tacey.

The White Point Resort could have easily tried to extinguish E4 as a nuisance to their business. But instead, they embraced him and have actually managed to turn their PIPL into a draw that attracts business. This is right up Todd Pover’s alley as he surely leads the way in forging a new era of helping endangered species that invites people to get involved and take an interest. The era of conservation emphasizing “NO NO NO NO” (no walking, no vehicles. no anything) is ending and a new era of “YES YES YES!” (yes these animals are interesting, yes you should enjoy them, yes you should take an interest) is dawning. White Point Resorts successful marriage of commerce and PIPL is great example of this. The era of “I ❤ Tufters” t-shirts is clearly upon us. I’d buy one.

Another striking point is how connected people, both the public and the scientists, become to “their” animals. While we tend to think of scientists banding birds as cold-hearted researchers dealing with large populations, I have found the opposite to be true. Almost every banded bird I have ever reported has wound up putting me in contact with the original bander, who always loves to hear how the animal is doing and share the whole story of its life. This just happened with our Bridgelets. Where do you think I got all those details? From the original bander of course!

I can only imagine how nuts we’ll go when Tufters & Tacey are first spotted on their wintering grounds by some lucky researcher.

Well, NOW you can identify him easily because he has an antenna hanging off his butt and a giant green flag on his leg that says “HUV”. Click here for pictures from Post Wild Poster Child. Tufters will be easily identified and reported by anyone who sees him along the entire flyway for the rest of his life. He is now “HUV”

Interestingly, now that Tufters and Tacey are banded I have been putting my ID skillz to the test. It might be tough to tell, but those bands are actually hard to see, if not impossible, much of the time. They are not visible a lot of the time and only come into view when they really stretch a leg.

I found at great distances I can in fact tell Tufters and Tacey apart (confirmed later by band), but I’ve goofed a couple times for sure!

You can segment LBI because there is LBI, then there is Holgate. Holgate is the last 2.5 miles of the 18 mile Long Beach Island, and it is a federally designated “Wilderness Area” It is completely closed to all people (except the fed scientists that work to help the animals there and even that is really limited) for the entire nesting season: April 1st to September 1st.

Holgate is a super important area in NJ for all beach nesters (PIPL, AMOY, LETE and BLSK) The seasons vary, but there are about 20 pairs of PIPL each season which is super high. This is because it is a federally designated wilderness area and the PIPL love it. It also was allowed to maintain its natural shape after Hurricane Sandy which is really important to the animals. Holgate is a major success story in terms of beach nesting birds.

On the entire rest of the Island, we have 1 pair: Tufters & Tacey.

So on one hand, LBI has a large PIPL population for the state. But people can’t go anywhere near Holgate, so in a different sense, its like they don’t exist. That makes Tufters & Tacey our #1 couple.

Yes, Yes, Yes! Great read, and we have be honoured with another exciting chapter being written here at White Point. Grey ‘EP’, the Dad of our 2014 nest of 4 chicks (E4, E2, EL and ET), has nested here at White Point again for 2015. EP is settling in and we enjoyed spotting and observing him while Todd was here with us May 2-4.

And now for the GREAT NEWS – E4, our 2014 baby spotted by Todd in January on Eleuthera, The Bahamas has returned to Nova Scotia – to Cherry Hill Beach! This beach is just a few miles from White Point Beach Resort and is another cobblestone beach, and like us, is popular with Surfers (who are amazing supporters). Plover Guardian, Sylvia sighted and reported E4 yesterday, we will be following and sharing his story as it unfolds. We are so proud of our ‘kids’ and can’t wait to see what happens this summer.

Meanwhile back at the Resort, we have EP’s nesting area well protected thanks to Bird Studies Canada and our Nova Scotia program co-ordinator Sue Abbott. We’ve confirmed 2 eggs, and look forward to another update this week in hopes there are more.

We will be launching our ‘Piping Plovers & People’ monitoring program with our guests, guiding them down our 1km beach to the protected area, and inviting them to help us complete the weekly reporting forms. Engaging them in learning – first hand – and seeing them in person is the best way to help educate people and gain their support.

It’s a small world, sharing our shorelines and following the fly paths of our spectacular little Piping Plovers is one of the best ways for us to learn about, and respect the fact that our living shorelines are here for everyone to share and thrive upon.

Let’s keep in touch …
Donna, and the entire Team here at White Point Beach Resort, Nova Scotia, Canada
whitepoint.com

Thanks Donna. First, I apologize for oversimplifying the story and not clarifying that EP is your big-daddy plover, and that E4 is one of the chicks. Just trying to keep it simple! Next, congrats on the nesting success. I think it is so great that you are getting sightings of the return of the PIPL you’ve hatched returning, and that they are coming home right near you.

[…] eggs they made this spring. And while we’re celebrating, let’s give some high fives to Lord Of The Flyway Todd Pover and the team at The Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ for all the assistance they gave to see […]